The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-10
NOT A PIAGIARIST.
Mr.. n. Rider Haggaid Retorts Upon
His Critics.

AA4As 1%s 1eAACI 12eS5 goa "a
His Critics.
From, the London Times.
On returning from abroad lind mysen
confronted with box full of newspaper cut
tings, most of which bear in some way OF
another my alleged offenses against the I'M
written laws of literature | have not read
all these cuttings, because my strength mas
| failed me, but / have mastered enough OF
them to show me that in many instances
they are not remarkable for AVAILABILITY OF
tone. Some assume that the charges re-
Gently made against me ana SUN
| more recently abandoned are true In
substance and in fact. Among tneIn,
too, / find other strange cases
| find that jess" is copied bodily from
the work of an unnamed and forgotten ali-
| thor. Aftcrward find that this charge Is
abandoned The writer made slight ms
| take. He meant that 'She" was copied, not
joss find, too On many papers,, that
one of the scenes in 'Jess' comes from
Treasure Island" In both books some
one listens and talks from behind tree;
Further, it seems that in this Work jess
am indebted to NJ Renan. Also, ma IL
suggested that in She ] have borrowed,
not from "Epicurean," but from the legend
of Urashima, whatever that may be, W.hlch
has, it seems, recently been translated by
Mr.. Kataoka whoever he may be.
It Is because these and other charges have
been and are still being so industrlously
spread that | venture, much as dislike
taking up your space, to ask you TO print
this letter.
In the first place, as TO the verses in
jess. Those verses were sent some years
ago by friend who is now dead and whose
original composition / understood them to
be, and put them into the mouth OF jess.
have only to add that bad no idea Of APP
propriating them as my own. l do not
write verses, and therefore the question
never presented itself to my mind in the
light in which it has been put before the
public. But | sincerely regret having pub
lished the lines as did, not because under
the circumstances | think that l did what
was wrong but because ] did thing that
was open to misinterpretation. Everybody
who knows me is, think, aware that am
quite incapable of wishing to take the credit
of the work of Others Those who do not
know me may, if they are uncharitable,
come to a different conclusion. I regret
that | should have thoughtlessly given them
this opportunity, and more than all | regret
the wrong that | have unconsciously done
to the real author Of the lines IN question,
whoever she or he may be. a
Also l wish to take this opportunity to-
make some further acknowledgements. In
lines into the mouth of Angela, Those lines
were written by my sister-in-law, Mrs. John
Haggard, and published as they appear by
her own wish. u
In ''She,n received the kind assistance of
three eminent and learned scholars in con-
nection with the inscriptions, but as do
not think that they would like me to print
their names | refrain from doing so.
In liking Solomons Mines some foreign
gentleman, whose name forgot, translated
| the inscription into Portuguese. A trihing
consideration of five shillings passed upon
the occasion, but perhaps my assailants will
say that / should have acknowledged his
| labors,
And now pass on to the charge against
"She." This charge has lately been aban-
| doned. But how has it been abandoneds In
a paragraph under the head of Literary
and Art Notes, etcn the journal which
| has headed the hunt against me prints
my denial, and states that "Such
parallel passages as exist in the two
books are an instance, it is now settled, not
of imitation, but of literary coincidence"
How many people, 1 ask, who have
been impressed with the pomp and circum-
stance of the leading articles, the sensa-
| tionally headed paragraph and all the loud
artillery of advertised attack will be likely
| to become acquainted with this most modest
and retiring Withdrawals SO convinced am
] that they will be few that wish again to
| state not only that never read a line of
| either "The Epicurean" or the poem
"Alciphron," but also TO give the real source
from which ''She' was ''plagiarized Some
time ago lady well acquainted with Africa
| wrote me some notes of native legends One
| of them runs as follows:
I'm the Sneeuw Show Bergen, Cape Col
| olony, there are immense caves which stretch
on and on under the mountains and the end
| of which bos haor r. ie INa
! lieved by both Beers and natives that in the
last cave there is spring of water, which,
| If one finds and drinks of it, gives eternal
| youth. There are endless stories told of adj
venturous parties in search of this water Of
| life losing their way, meeting dangers both
| CHASTITY and bodily, and failing in their OBJ
| ject at last A newly married couple never
! returned from their search, and it was be-
lieved that harm had happened to them, be-
! cause OF the crimes the woman had COM
mitted in order to gain her husband She
had killed her first husband and his brother,
whom by native law she would have had to
marry as she had no children, and she had
bewitched the man (her second husband) so
| that he followed her about like q shadow
and did everything he was told by her."
Here found the germ of "She." 1t will
be seen that, without wishing to lay any
particular claim to originality, l may fairly
say that / have to some extent developed
| the idea.
These charges of plagiarism are easy to
make and difficult to disprove 1t is quite
| impossible for anybody TO write anything
that does not in some way touch on ground
| which has already been trodden by others.
! The human mind is limited and unchange-
| able; it never thinks a new thought. The
most that it can hope to do is to present an
old one in new aspect / am, sir, your
obedient servant,
II. RIDER HAGGARD.